Good for Roland Burris. Is this his finest hour?

Roland = Redemption.

It may well be. If nothing else, it’s as effective a Declaration of Independence from Rahm Emanuel as anything I could dream up.

Jane-this health care reform debate is historic, and you’re right in the middle of it.

Thanks so much for your hard, hard work.

It sucked to be Rahm Emanuel yesterday.

I think that it sucks to be Rahm *every* day.

And Rahm is the only person who doesn’t realize it.

Ha ha ha ha.

PhRMA pouring $150 million down the rat hole and just might get bupkis for it.

Ha ha ha ha.

About time their ROI went down just a bit…

Wonder how PhRMA is feeling about that $150 million in advertising they agreed to as part of their deal that they started spending this week.

Oh, jeez, hadn’t realized that PhRMA has brought back the original “Harry and Louise” actors. Yes, bloody two-bit actors are going to convince us of Big Pharma’s new-found goodness and light. Riiiight.

The drug lobby has brought back Harry and Louise (actors Harry Johnson and Louise Caire Clark) to reprise their roles in the insurance industry ad that helped sink the Clinton plan. Then Harry and Louise sat at the kitchen table voicing their worries about putting the federal government in charge of everyone’s healthcare. (“If they choose, we lose,” was the tagline.) Now they are all for it.

“It looks like we may finally get healthcare reform,” Harry says in the ad sponsored by PhRMA and the liberal advocacy group Families USA. “It’s about time,” Louise responds. “A little more cooperation, a little less politics and we can get the job done this time,” she says at the ad’s conclusion.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/…..-hirelings

Don’t think that the expenditure will bother them much they will just screw more policy holders and raise rates rapes.

It sucked to be Rahm Emanuel yesterday.

Which made it a very, very good day. I’d be thrilled if it sucked to be Rahm every day.

This is great news. Thank you Roland!

OT Theres a great piece over at Truthout.

We Can’t Afford Health Care? You Lie!
http://www.truthout.org/091609R

oh I don’t know. They may very well be bargaining that ANY deal they get out of this will be better than nothing for their bottom line – more subsidies, more customers, little in the way of effective price regulation or mandated competitive negotiation frameworks for big pharma. Even if the insurers and large hospital corps ultimately get reemed by whatever acceptable compromise gets passed (which hopefully will happen), they may figure that they’re still OK, if not better off. They’re not the biggest target here and they’re largely getting overlooked, and they know it.. and I gather that they like it that way. The president will likely still be in a position to honor his deal with them, no matter what happens, given that the whole containment of underlying (as opposed to insurance) costs part of his platform is essentially toothless. Unfortunately.

From our local paper here in WA State quoting Senator Cantwell:

The Washington Democrat, a member of the Finance Committee, said the measure from Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., did not include a government-run insurance option and failed to overhaul the Medicare reimbursement formula which is critical to Washington state.

“I wouldn’t vote for a bill that doesn’t have Medicare reform and the public option,” Cantwell said in a telephone interview. “What would I tell the people in Washington state?”

Hold on. Burris pledged to vote against a bill lacking a PO, but he has not said he’d vote against cloture to bring the bill to a vote. So it’s incorrect to say that he’s pledged to “block” the bill. Brian Beutler at TPM was trying to obtain clarification on that point from Burris’s office, and I’ve seen nothing so far.

we’ll need to push hard on Harkin to say something like this too.

So funny. Burris not reading from the Chicago approved script.

I guess this confirms that we are all the way through tragedy and well into farce.

Burris as the least “bought” of them all. Who’d have thought?

good point

should we be adding that to our comments/questions when we call Burris’s office?

Trying to nail them down on these things is a waste of time. While they prefer to have a legalistic fig leaf for their betrayals of their constituents, they have no shame about going full monty when they have to.

Thanks. I believe other senators have probably made similar statements; I’d be amazed if Bernie hasn’t. I’m dubious that Burris is the first. If he was threatening to vote against cloture, that’d be a different thing, but despite Politico’s take, that’s not what his statement says.

I doubt that Bernie Sanders would vote for cloture and Kennedy’s seat in Massachusetts remains open so the Democrats were already below the number needed. And yesterday their best hope of a Republican crossover Olympia Snowe bailed on them.

My question is why more of the so-called liberals in the Senate haven’t declared on this? Where was Feingold, for instance? Or Boxer, Dodd, Leahy, Reed, Kerry, etc.?

I think this is a testament to just how odious Burris is.
Rahm’s offer to Burris must have been something less than a parking pass for Wrigley Field.

PhRMA is targetting House members to protect their deal with Baucus/Rahm. They could care less about refrom. They want to protect their super-profits.

http://theplumline.whorunsgov……g-seniors/

Drug Industry Unleashes Huge Wave Of Health Care Mailings Targeting Seniors

The powerful drug industry lobby has unleashed a massive wave of mailers in four dozen House districts that warns seniors that their Medicare costs will soar if the House doesn’t back the controversial health care deal that the lobby reportedly cut with the White House and Senate negotiators.

The mailing — which will infuriate reform proponents who oppose that deal and want the House to further target drug industry profits — was paid for by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association. A PhRMA spokesman confirmed to us that it’s hit 47 districts

also, there’s still the problem of Nelson (FL), Landrieu and he-who-must-not-be-named from CT, right?… which leaves the Dems well short, if I understand the numbers correctly.

Going to echo a comment I just put up over at the wheelhouse:

Burris is getting nothing in the way of campaign contributions from anybody, every Democrat in the senate leadership is likely still pissed at him for accepting that seat.

It might be a vote of conscience…or it might be a poke in the eye with a sharp stick on his way out.

Boxturtle (Burris does strike me as somewhat unprincipled and somewhat vindictive)

Is it safe to say we’re glad Blago appointed Burris yet?

‘Cause even if nobody else is, I am…!

Don’t gloat until it’s signed. My sense is that you will see a different sort of ad from Harry and Louise in the coming days, one that pivots with the word “regrettably”.

And Baucuscare is not dead, just going in for some plastic surgery. We need to be assured that the Republicans are indeed going to vote No on anything out of the Senate Finance Committee plus we need two Democrats to stop it in its tracks.

And the House needs to start moving their bill to the floor. It’s time to start calling the hand with on-record votes.

I’ll go for the sharp stick and I like it.

Sweet. Roland gets the cold shoulder from everyone, so he decides to vote his constituents’ interests. He’ll at least be able to get a job in Chicago when he’s out of the Senate.

Citizen TarheelDem:

“And the House needs to start moving their bill to the floor. It’s time to start calling the hand with on record votes.”

Yes indeed, Citizen TarheelDem, it’s been time for 63 years now…and the House needs to get tempo here and advance their bill and set the stage for reconcilliation.

And Obama can’t save Rahm’s nuts now unless the President wants to go down with his chief of staff.

150 million probably not that much in a trillion dollar industry…one/tenth of big shot stock option.

Its a mixed up muddled up shook up world

Roland Burris and Jay Rockefeller, who in the hell knew ?

Mornin’ All

Billy Tauzin, what a Louisiana turd ball. Baucus can go join him in the land of the openly purchased.

Nothing. Nothing is better than the crap we just received. Please Obama, step up and simply say, “Fuck all y’all (the accepted plural of y’all here in the great, if somewhat demented South). “Here’s what we’re going to do. If you don’t like it, well…too fucking bad.” Please, please, please…

Burris? He’s earned a few nods of respect on this.

Citizen Blub:

No Citizen, the only number in the Senate that matters is 50+1 on reconcilliation now that Burris has “manned up” and pulled the carpet out from under the Tiny Dancer.

Wendell Potter nailed the bogus efforts of the Baucus bill

“Insurance Industry Profit Protection and Enhancement Act”

Sounds like a description of a love drug specifically designed for Insurance Executives…CCCHHING$$$$

well, uranus is opposing Saturn this week!

Citizen meacham:

Yeah, the irony almost makes ya believe there IS a God!

Yeah, that must be why they give so much of their product away for free. /s

Its a mixed up muddled up shook up world

Roland Burris and Jay Rockefeller, who in the hell knew ?

that they’re “Kink”-y?

hey Rahm, how bad is it ???

Industry Squeeze Mary Landrieu disappointed she couldn’t wear the cheerleading outfit or read the Tauzin authored roll out speech . . .

“It’s a work in progress”

yes, but I guess I’m optimistic enough to think that the only reason they would want to move forward with the Baucus atrocity is because they think they have a prospect of passing this with a straight 60. If Burris is prepared to block cloture, or if any of Nelson, Landrieu and or he-who-must-not-be-named continues their obstinence, then that hope goes away regardless of whether Snowe is ultimately bought off. And if that hope goes away, hopefully so does the Baucus bill. We can then try to pass the HELP bill, whatever it turns out to be, through reconcilation. Hopefully, the leadership will not see any utility in moving the Baucus bill forward if 60 is not an option. I certainly don’t.

My best scenario for the Baucus bill though (and here I’m being grossly optimistic) is that it never even makes it out of Baucus’ committee. If Rockefeller holds out plus 2 other Dems, and Snowe remains unconvinced, then it doesn’t even make it into sequential much less the full Senate and a possible (if nonsensical) attempt at the reconcilation process.

Dem finance members:
MAX BAUCUS, MT
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, WV
KENT CONRAD, ND
JEFF BINGAMAN, NM
JOHN F. KERRY, MA
BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, AR
RON WYDEN, OR
CHARLES E. SCHUMER, NY
DEBBIE STABENOW, MI
MARIA CANTWELL, WA
BILL NELSON, FL
ROBERT MENENDEZ, NJ
THOMAS CARPER, DE

So if Cantwell isn’t on board? And Nelson? Kerry? Schumer’s pro PO too, isn’t he? If any three, on either side of the political spectrum (Nelson because he’s anti-any-reform) and Snowe remains unbribed by our side, then this ends right there.

Burris? He’s earned a few nods of respect on this.

In the words of the immortal Janis Joplin, freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.

Yup, he’ll go down in Senate history as the man who did one thing right.

You know, I was about to give up on the public option. The chorus of people screaming that ”the public option is dead” was so loud, and ”our side” seemed so powerless and directionless, that I was losing hope.

And now it seems like we have new life, with Burris, with Rockefeller, and the rest.

In some ways, it seems like the lightning rod for change wasn’t the presence of a good bill, but the presence of a bad bill. I wonder if there’s a lesson to be learned here… a tactical, political knife-fighting lesson…

Oh btw, expect to see at least a couple of bills with a public option PLUS a poison pill. We’re going to have to be on the lookout for that; the ”public option” will be used as a fig leaf to force us to either swallow the poison pill (who knows, cross-state line competition with Delaware style ”lowest common denominator” regulation, or something), OR we’ll have to go on record ”opposing” the thing we held out so hard for (the public option).

So, as I mentioned, we gotta be pretty vigilant and control the narrative from the moment such a (predictable) ploy is used.

I don’t think it’s any deader than this whole process can be said to be dead, for better or worse.

Miz Janey – You are cracking my shit up today. Thank you. I needed the giggles.
Anyone else feeling like there’s an increase in the crabby? I’m not talking about just the payingattentionprogressives. I mean, like everybody. On the freeway. At work. At the gym. In da hood.
I’m calling in Well, and fixin’ to play in my garden.

No one has actually voted yet, there’s still plenty of time for Lola to take Roland by the hand. Burris walked into the chamber, “hello” he lied.

Roland Burris is one of Melanie Sloan’s choices as most corrupt congress critters. It is surprising that Bad Max Baucus and Diaper David Vitter are NOT on her list. In fact four of the fifteen are African Americans, Maxine Waters, Charlie Rangel (who improperly used stationary), Jesse Jackson Jr., and Burris. John Murtha is also on her list. Murtha certainly knows how to get money to his friends and family. But Murtha also is a co-sponsor of HR 676, Single Payer, At least two of the other “corrupt” support single payer also. Melanie is too ethical to let that affect her awesome ethical judgement.

TPM is reporting that Stabenow may be willing to block advance out of finance as well. Schumer probably will too if he gets enough calls (which he basically pleaded for on Tuesday) for him to do so (so call him, NYkers!). So far that’s four blocking votes. If those four hold, Baucusgate is already a dead-bill-walking and we won’t have to depend on Burris or anyone else to stop this.

Please note, if this advances out of that commitee, I suspect we’re sunk, regardless of Burris. Our best tactic is to prevent finance passage and sequential referral. And that means getting any three of Stabenow, Rockefeller, Schumer and Cantwell to do the right thing and hope that either Snowe or Nelson does the wrong thing – or, alternatively, that all four do the right thing, in which case Snowe and Nelson don’t matter. And then there’s always Kerry, who can also do the right thing for the first time in a very long time… but I’m not holding my breath on that one. So let’s call those four, and tell them to stop this bill now.

Take a bow, Rod Blagojevich.

Y’all might want to join Scarecrow’s excellent cross-post already in progress: “Ezra Klein’s Baucus Wish List: One of These Things Is Not Like the Others”

Now just need to whip more Senators for “no individual mandate on anyone without access to a public plan”, to ensure that any bill going through budget reconciliation includes either both or neither.

Then if a bill containing both gets through the House, then in Conference, having both is either a consensus of both sides, or the House side can insist that if the mandate is added, the public option has to go along.

Just woke up this morning to find an email from Howard dean with this in it :
At least 218 House and 51 Senate Democrats have said they would vote for the final health care bill if it included the choice of a public option rather than vote against the bill and kill reform. That means Congress has the majority votes needed to pass a public option — TODAY .
Sounds like the death of the public option was premature .Question is ,will this be a strong enough plan to warrant passage or just a way to to blunt the impact of the progressive community from doing any more damage to the status quo .
Maybe we shouldn’t make it too easy on Obama or the blue dogs . Bring the machine to it’s knees ! America needs the daylight between government and it’s corporate sponsors !

sharp stick for Rahm, indeed!

This is why JANE HAMSHER is still going strong while other left-leaning blogs are imploding on themselves.

I have to say I told you so about Burris. I’ve been blogging about this for a long time.

Didn’t it seem strange to any of you so-called liberals that Burris was getting piled upon for no reason? Yet many of you went along because Obama, et al, said so. I still think Rahm was all up into controlling who got the senate seat and Burris was his fall guy, at least for the “hatefest”.

What are you going to do when there is no prosecution of Blago? When talking and doing are two different things? When other legislators do worse every day?

A little honesty from now on please?

And why is Feingold’s joining of the czar critics on Politico and not on the liberal blogs?( I can tell you the answer but you wouldn’t want to hear it.)

well, uranus is opposing Saturn this week!

Yes, and that means the Promethean archetype of sudden, unexpected, and liberating change casting aside the shackles of oppression is powerfully influencing all human consciousness. Look for signs of its manifestation everywhere. Feel the rising tide in yourselves and surf the tsunami to victory.

Ride, baby ride!

It’ll be a pleasure, for a change, to urge Schumer to do something he actually might do.

Rahm is throwing a hissy fit in the White House right now…

Sweet….

It couldn’t happen to a more deserving asshole…

Yeah, it does feel a little weird to be rooting for John “Wiretap” Rockefeller and Roland “Quid Pro Quo” Burris. But sometimes you have to do that when you stick with your principles, regardless of who is for them or who is against them (are you listening Obama?)

Just called Schumer’s office and urged that he help snuff the Baucus bill in committee. Staffer asked why, and I said the lack of a PO. Staffer assured me that Schumer strongly supports a PO. I noted that Schumer’s used waffly language, saying that a co-op could constitute a PO depending on circumstances. Staffer acknowledged that he understood the point. Staffer asked if I supported any other bill. I said not really, since I’m a single-payer supporter. I pointed out that neither the House nor the HELP bill contains a PO remotely resembling what Howard Dean promises — something Medicare-like, available freely to Americans under 65. I noted that most Americans don’t understand that, but some of us do. But I added that, at minimum, killing the Baucus bill, co-ops, and triggers remains necessary preemptive damage control. Staffer said thanks.

[end transmission]

Hurray for the accidental Senator! But I can’t believe you didn’t run “your favorite picture evah” with this post. How many times will you get that chance again?

And why isn’t there one progressive Senator who would have done this before Roland Burris? Paging Senator Feingold, I believe my confidence in you was misplaced. Does that mean there aren’t any progressive senators, besides Burris?

Hey, it wouldn’t be the 1st time the bedfellows were strange. In this fight you can’t be picky about your allies. As in any war, you gotta hold your nose and get ‘er done.

The Saturn Uranus opposition is less than one degree from an exact opposition (180 degrees apart with Gaia between them).

Saturn is at 24 degrees Virgo 58′57″

Uranus is at 24 degrees Pisces 37′31″

But that’s not all. Check this out:

The Sun is conjunct Saturn at 24 degrees Virgo 54′54″ so it’s also opposing Uranus. And the Moon is fast approaching the party at 10 degrees Virgo 5′1″

Last, but by no means least, Pluto at 0 degrees Capricorn 40′6″ is square to Saturn and Uranus. A square means 90 degrees apart and Saturn is within 5 degrees of an exact square with Pluto while Uranus also is within 5 degrees of an exact square with Pluto. This planetary configuration is called a T-square. This means the Uranus opposition to the forming triple conjunction of the Sun, Moon, and Saturn will strongly intensify the opposition.

For example, on 9/11 Saturn was within 2 degrees of an exact opposition to Pluto and both were square to a Sun Moon opposition. The two oppositions formed an exact Grand Cross. I am NOT suggesting another 9/11 will happen today. I AM saying a titanic force for unexpected rebellion and liberating change (Uranus) is battling another powerful force (Saturn) that “defines and grounds, constricts and solidifies by expressing itself in discipline and control, rigor and rigidity, repression and oppression,” [See Tarnas, Richard, Cosmos and Psyche (Plume 2007), at p. 211] with both forces strengthened and inflexibly expressed through the individual will to exist (Sun) supported by the emotional need to be right (Moon). The forces triggered by conjunction and T-square are powerfully magnified and intensified by Pluto. At the very least, we should expect rebellion and entrenchment around the world with a realistic possibility of clashes resulting in injuries and loss of life.

Exactly good on Roland Burris.The gentleman came to the senate however peculiar,kept his mouth shut & supported every progressive piece of legislation that came before him. And now he is out front for a progressive cause.Kudos to Burris.Just called & thank Burris.

PH:202-224-2854.

Still waiting to see so called “librul” Senator Boxer step up to the plate.

Why is Barara Boxer a so called “librul”? I think she is very liberal.

Why are you calling Barbara Boxer a ’so called “liberal”‘? Isn’t she pretty liberal?
Boo ya for Burris.